I know I wrote my last review for the Thai Sweet Chilli Chicken when I was in Vietnam, and I mentioned in that review I was able to try something for this blog, but between then and now, work needed me in Singapore where I was able to try something a bit more interesting - the Cereal Ebi Burger with Shrimp Paste Flavoured Sauce. Yes, that's the real name of this burger (Singapore has had some really long names in the past). Although the Ebi Burger (Ebi = Japamese for Shrimp/Prawns) is a perennial burger in Singapore and I've reviewed it before, I felt this deluxe edition was worth a try. If you want to know more about the history of the Ebi Burger go back and read one of my reviews from Singapore, or more recently the Onion Ring topped New York Onion Shrimp Burger from Korea.

This Cereal Ebi burger was topped with a larger "White Sesame and Chive" bun which was a significant improvement over the traditional Quarter Pounder bun used on the "traditional" Ebi Burger series. The improvement didn't really come from the added seasoning on the bun (although you could taste the chives and they weren't overpowering) but rather it was a bit firmer than the standard soft bun which I thought was was more important than it should have been, simply due to how poor the shimp filling in the patty turned out to be...

The patty however was a noticeable downgrade from Ebi Burgers I've had in the past. I'll often praise the "whole shrimp" patties which mean between a bit of minced shrimp you'd have entire whole shrimp mixed throughout the patty. This was marketed as such a patty (in some countries like Japan and Korea, when the Shrimp Burger was on the regular menu, they never used whole shrimp patties it was always mince). Not sure if it was just my typical luck, or if most were like that, but I didn't have a whole shrimp the entire patty, so the 100% mince made the overall patty, softer and a bit soggier than it should have been.

The big change was the breading that surrounded the shrimp mince itself. The standard Ebi Burger always looked and felt like a fried Chicken patty there wasn't much difference to the batter that surrounded the meat. This edition was a "cereal" batter which almost had a tempura-like consistency, which meant it wasn't 100% even or smooth all the way around and had at least an attempt of a crispy shell covering the soft innards. I'm also not sure if it was because the bun was larger, but the patty seemed smaller than previous editions, but don't hold me to that as I didn't order a regular to compare it with.

The veg hasn't changed, I received 2 small whole-leaf lettuce pieces, which ideally they could have served more as it was just on the positive side of being considered stingy. But probably what everyone is reading this review for is the wonderfully named "Shrimp Paste Flavoured Sauce". It wasn't Shrimp Paste, but rather Shrimp Paste Flavoured Sauce. I truthfully went in expecting this sauce to be horrific, as I thought why on earth would you want to top a Shrimp Burger with more shrimp. But after I took my first bite, I fell absolutely in love with it. It didn't have any fishiness to it, and it tasted more like a seafood sauce you'd dip shrimp cocktail into over anything else. But the real surprise here was that it actually had a nice kick to it, which I'll always prise especially when they aren't promoting it as a "spicy" burger whatsoever. Pretty sad to see this sauce not sticking around, as it will be surely missed.

Rating - 4/5

I also want to just quickly talk about how much I loved that box design. Like the Angry Bird burger they continued the pop-out box features (scroll back up to the top image to see). But I still found it strange the McDonald's staff didn't pop them out, I had to do it on my own, and I only noticed the box was a popout after I ate the burger!

Also available with the burger were "Fish Dippers". They were small fish sticks served with the tartar sauce served on the Filet o' Fish. McDonald's Singapore was charging $4.60 for 6 pieces which I thought was outrageously priced since you can get a Filet 'o Fish with nearly the same amount of with + tartar on a bun for $2 in Singapore. Plus I've had Fish Sticks before in Egypt, so I thought I'd give it a pass.